Jack's Life
by Keokey Wolf
Summary: When Jack's father comes home from an extremely long vacation, things start to get complicated. Especially when a newcomer shows great interest in powers that are hidden inside Jack. Just about all of the main characters are used (Omi, Clay Kimiko, Raimundo and Jack of course.) There is only slight fowl language. I will try not to use it too much
1. Explain a few things

_**Chapter One.**_

_**Explain a few things.**_

I slowly dripped back into consciousness, a blue light coming in through my eyelids as I adjusted to the feeling of being aware of my surroundings. The cool air of the basement clings to my trench coat, and the thinness of the air made my lungs burn a little. I sighed heavily and sat back in my wheelie chair as I rubbed the sleep from my eyes, my hands brushing over the tattooed markings under my eyes. The markings burned little, the skin still slightly tender from the needle that plastered the permanent ink to the already sensitive skin. Everyone thought it was make-up, but they have no idea how wrong they are, they have no idea what pain was suffered when my father had the tattoo artist put these dishonorable markings on my face. As if I hadn't enough problems when I was young.

My eyes open slowly, the blurry surroundings coming into focus for my tired eyes, only to be blinded by my bright computer screen. I shut them tight and groaned, a mild headache arising from the drastic change in lighting. I pulled myself from the wheelie chair and walked away from the bright screen, when I was sure that I wouldn't be blinded I opened my eyes again. This time I'm facing my work bench, or more specifically, the six foot by six foot table that my latest designs rested on. The only thing to light up the area above the table being a single light bulb, and it's dim light offered little for making things easy to see.

A dialog clock on the far side of the room showed it to be a little past midnight. Great. I got two hours of sleep and already my insomnia has kicked in. I sighed and rubbed my hand through my bright red hair, not the first time that I've woken up in the middle of the night. But it's not like anyone cares, or even notices. My parents rarely ever come see me anymore, unless they want a punching bag or want me to build them another 'sure-fire money making machine'. My siblings don't even know that I exist, special dedication and compliments of my parents. The only good thing that comes from living in the basement is the constant flow of technology, food and money my parents send to me to keep my mouth shut about who my parents are and who I am. Funny how even they are ashamed of me...

They went through a great deal of stress to make sure that no one knows that I am related to them or their 'perfect family'. Making sure no one knows of their albino son that creates all of the machines that they currently make money off of. They even made sure everyone who lives above me in their big house, never finds out of the younger brother who lives below. Yet I know all of them. Some inventions that I keep hidden from my parents, which isn't hard to do since they don't ever come down here except maybe once a year, IF I'm lucky, help keep tabs on my family upstairs. My heart sinks a bit, knowing that the siblings I so desperately want to bond with...will never know that I exist.

_It's only because they don't want my 'bad mannerisms' to rub off on their precious perfect ones... _I think quietly to myself as I head to my makeshift kitchen. _If only they really knew how 'perfect' my other four siblings were... _I smile a bit. My parents aren't the only ones who keep secrets in the family.

I take out a soda from my mini-fridge and open it casually as I go back to my computer, my eyes now fully adjusted to the brightness of the screen and room. Setting the can lightly on my desk, beside a few already empty ones and my signature goggles, I type in my password and open up the screens that show each room in the upper portion of the house. Minus the bathrooms of course. Everyone is sleeping peacefully in their bedrooms, all except one. My little sister, Lacy, is walking absent-mindedly through the halls to my three eldest siblings' rooms. I smile a bit as I watch her slow, cautious walk through the dark hallways, a stuffed cat clutched tightly to her chest.

She has short, curly blonde hair and the brightest blue eyes that stand out like gems against her lightly tanned skin. Lacy is only ten, barely able to stand being alone more then thirty minutes before going to find an older sibling to play with. Some nights, when I can't sleep and I decide to check up on the other residents of the house, I watch her toss and turn helplessly in her bed. As far as I can tell, she has bad night terrors at least once or twice a week. They strike randomly and most of the time she gets lucky enough to have them close to morning. I guess she didn't get so lucky tonight.

She shuffles across the brown shag carpet and up to a redwood door, she turns the golden doorknob ever so gently and eases the door open. I shift my gaze to a different screen which displays my twins room, yes I have a twin. Her walls are a soft, violet color with multiple posters to cover the face of just about every side and dark purple carpet to cover the floors. she has a white dresser to the far side and a vanity mirror to check herself in. I've watched her decorate her room many times, and it surprises me how fast she goes from one topic to the next.

Lacy creeps inside and quietly shuts the door behind herself before making her way over to the king sized bed where Jenifer sleeps on. She crawls up onto the large bed and inches closer to my twin's sleeping body, poking it with a tentative finger. Jenifer stirs a little but settles back just as quickly, receiving another poke from Lacy before she grunts and turns over to face the scared ten-year-old. Jenifer opens her emerald green eyes and blinks away the bleariness of sleep, only to sit up quickly and look Lacy over.

"Are you alright?" Her voice shows a bit of worry, knowing the child has night terrors sometimes. "Was it a bad dream again, Lacy?"

Lacy nods ever so slightly, hugging the stuffed cat to her cheek. "It was really dark..." Her whisper would have been nearly inaudible had my little spying machine not been built with sensitive microphones.

Jenifer takes Lacy into a comforting hug. "It's alright. Dreams can't hurt you, at least...not while you're with your big brothers and big sis." She earns a big, thankful smile from the little girl. They both lay down and Jenifer covers them both up with her big comforter. "Now then, why don't you go back to sleep? It's the middle of the night and a strong, goring girl like yourself needs her sleep."

Lacy nods and yawns a little before curling close to her big sister. Both of them slip back off into sleep.

I sigh a little. "I wish I could be there for your night terrors, Lacy...I know plenty about being scared of the dark..." I whisper to no one in particular.

I minimize the screens and pull up some of my other files, looking over the blueprints for a new robot that I have in the making. One that's sure to wow the Xiaolin monks and a few haters from the Heylin side. A jack-bot hovers over to me, staying a respectful distance away until I wave for it to come close and signal for it to speak.

"Master Jack, you have received a letter from Wuya and Hannibal bean." It's robotic, monotone voice relayed it's information to me quickly.

I sigh. "What could those two abusers want now...they've taken just about everything I have, what else is there that's left?" I get up, the force from my motion pushing the wheelie chair into a far wall. "Fine...where is the letter?"

The Jack-bot hands over a fairly large envelope, a red wax insignia keeping the fold closed. I roll my eyes a bit to see the 'elegance' they tried to put into the letter, as if those two could ever care about anything other then themselves. Although the amount of respect they share between them is surprisingly strong, at least it's strong enough that they don't betray one another. I slip my finger under the flap and open it, tearing the insignia with great ease and taking out the piece of parchment within it.

_**To Jack,**_

_**To my most horrid of discoveries, it has been brought to my attention that Roy Hannibal Bean would allow for you to join us to retrieve the next Shen-Gong-Wu to activate itself. We are in dire need of your robots assistance in distracting the ever paining Xiaolin Warriors while you retrieve the Wu for us. Cooperation in this matter is greatly appreciated and we would like for you not to fail as horribly as always.**_

_**An answer to this letter is expected immediately and should you reject this extremely generous offer, you are to be warned that we will have to take extreme and forceful measures. (So please, reject.)**_

_**Forever better then you,**_

_**Wuya**_

I crumple up the piece of paper and throw it away in a nearby trash bin. Figures that she and everyone else would want to use me as a doormat again. Can't catch a break anywhere with anyone, and I should have known that it'd be Wuya who would want to use me first. That little witch always dumps me when she gets the chance, this time will be no different. I turn to my Jack-bot who waits patiently for an answer, and against my better judgment, I let my anger flow out.

"You can tell Wuya and her precious Hannibal that I reject their offer." My voice is dripping with my anger. "I don't care about their pathetic excuse for a warning, if they need a distraction so bad then they can use their own creations to sacrifice because I am done sacrificing mine."

The Jack-bot only beeped, showing that it had recorded my answer and it quickly flew off to deliver it's message. My anger boiled down and I sighed, knowing that when they heard that message I was going to be in a lot of trouble. But for once, I didn't care. Physical pain that they can inflict is nothing compared to the emotional pain I feel everyday. Besides, I'm used to physical pain, might as well let them vent for a little bit.

**This is an incredibly poorly written chapter by me, I hope you all can forgive me if I made your eyes bleed or if I have offended you in any way. I'm not a very good writer but I try, plus I like to get criticism in hopes that I might one day become a good writer so please, help out ^~^**

**Next chapter coming as soon as I can make it.**


	2. In the deep end

_**Disclaimer: I obviously do not own Xiaolin Showdown. (I am sorry for not putting this on chapter one, it completely slipped my mind and I apologize for it.)**_

_**Also, to the spelling errors of the first chapter, I must have let those slip by when I was double checking everything and I'm sorry for those as well. Just another case of "I'm really not perfect for this."**_

_**Anyway, onward to the story.**_

**Chapter Two.**

**In the deep end.**

Sometimes I thank the gods that Shen-Gong-Wu have some of the most perplexing timing to reveal themselves to the world. This particular Shen-Gong-Wu had the best timing for me, having saved me from nearly having my head crushed by Wuya's anger. Well, not so much anger as irritated from my lack of being her 'yes-man lackey' that she used to love having around to follow her orders. My Jack-bots had tried to help, their upgrades caught Wuya and Hannibal off guard, buying sometime for the Wu to reveal itself.

I rub my arm, just before I had slipped my trench coat on I noticed the formation of a dark bruise, credit for which goes to Hannibal for the rough punch. My body aches all over from the beating those two delivered so generously for my rejection to their offer. They gave me quite a few bruises up and down my pale body, as well as a broken rib or two and a blazing headache from when I hit the ground due to their excited tossing. The blades of my heli-pack squeak slightly, bringing me out of my momentary mental check of damage. The squeaking reminded me that i would have to oil and update the aging pack. I look ahead at the scenery of where we're going, Wuya and Hannibal's bodies slightly blocking me from the view from far off.

Wide open fields roll underneath us, the dark green grass swaying welcomingly in the light breeze and the outside leaves of the forest trees shake gently in the direction of the blowing winds. The leaves shift momentarily as the air is disturbed by Wuya, Hannibal and I. A large deep blue lake shows itself beyond the trees ahead, giving us a destination for the 'oh-so-important' Wu that these two Heylin freaks wish to take.

Those two dip down, just in front of the lake, and I lower slowly into the forest below. Keeping a safe distance between us, hoping I won't have to do anything on this useless trip. Hannibal takes a look around before motioning for me to come closer, I sigh and approach him.

"Alright Jack," His voice Low and smooth as always, easy for convincing others to do what he wants, as well as coming off as an innocent comforter. "The plan is simple, Wuya will find and tell you the exact location of the wu. You, my boy, will retrieve it and bring it to us. Understand?"

He looks up at me, those beady eyes showing a hint of violence. I shrug. "Whatever jelly bean. But after this, you two leave me alone."

Hannibal only smiles and laughs a bit. "My boy, I-"

"Stop calling me that." I snap at him, catching him a bit off guard. He recovers none the less and clears his throat.

"Very well, Jack, I doubt after this that you will be left alone. You are and always have been a valued member to this group for-"

"Just shut up Bean, we both know that all you're doing is trying to soften me up to do whatever you want as if I'm some kind of servant. Well guess what, I'm not." I cross my arms a bit, shifting my weight to the left side since my right is killing me. "You two betray and dump me after I serve whatever useless purpose you two have in mind for 'world domination' yet both of you have failed to rule the world."

Hannibal growls. "Jack, this can go two ways. You can help us willingly or we can just make you mindless. Now choose which you want because either way you will do this."

I glare at him. "I'm already here no thanks to you two, might as well do this. But I won't be doing this every time you two need a distraction."

He only smirks and calmly responds in a cold, malicious voice. "We'll see."

Wuya shudders a bit and points to the middle of the lake. "Down there." Her voice high-pitched in an effort to not shout it out. "Well!" She snaps, turning to face me. "Go on, Spicer! Fetch!" She smiles as she orders me like some dog.

"Hold it right there, Wuya and Hannibal!" A slightly cheerful voice fills the air. I slink into the shadows and out of sight enough to not be noticed. That voice I know too well, Kimiko and the other monks have arrived.

A 40-foot long jade green dragon lands in the clearing just of to the side. Four well known monks hopping off of his back immediately to confront the two Heylin siders, the dragon promptly shinks to the size of a lizard and takes shelter under the biggest monks hat. I smile a bit, those four always know when to make an entrance and how to get rid of the two annoyances in front of me. The biggest of the monks by far is the cowboy, Clay. His stocky build leaves many in his shadow and blue eyes are currently hidden behind his blonde bangs and the tip of his cowboy hat, his small smile turned into a scowl at his enemies. The second monk is a bit smaller but still quite tall, Raimundo, the Brazilian boy from Rio. His dark brown hair is spiked and the darkness complements his bright green eyes and rounded face. He still sports his mischievous grin to Wuya and Hannibal, both of which he has betrayed and made a fool of. The only female monk in the group is Kimiko, well known for her firey temper and extreme determination to master said temper. Her raven black hair shines in the sun, and I tilt my head as I notice it's in a single ponytail instead of her signature pigtails. She holds the star hanabi in her hand tightly as she glares daggers into the two threats in front of her. The last monk being the smallest by far is Omi. Although his body is small, he sports a large bald head and small black eyes. He always gets serious around enemies, and says the same line to them all. But it's his own style so there is little to be done about it.

"Surrender now, or suffer a most humiliating defeat!" Omi declares in a loud voice, he prides himself on being the most experienced warrior of the four. Even if he isn't the leader.

Wuya only growls slightly, flashing a glance in my direction to signal that I release my Jack-bots to their destruction. "I believe it is you who will be defeated today, Omi." She states matter-of-factly.

I sigh and press a button on my watch that's attached to my right hand. As soon as I do the feint sound of whirring parts can be heard from behind me and the Monks look over, unsurprised that the Jack-bots would be joining the fight. They get into fighting stances and my bots come up from behind the tree line, flying in swiftly to obey my commands. My heart clenches a bit, they may be seen as only machines to some people but to me, those are my companions. The only ones who are around when I need them, the only ones who listen to me. It breaks my heart to send them into a fight that I know they'll loose. But it's not like anyone here will ever understand that.

"So that no good snake, Jack Spicer, is finally showin' himself after a week of not bein' 'round." Clay's heavy country voice hits my ears. I expected the comment, I'm used to hearing them by now.

I activate my heli-pack once again and fly out of my hiding spot, just as the monks, my bots, Wuya and Hannibal begin their fight. Wuya and Hannibal both seeking the demise of Raimundo for his treachery. It amuses me how they can hold that grudge when they have betrayed so many people as well. The monks take care of my Jack-bots with relative ease, but not without a few surprises and light bruises to themselves first. Omi, being the over-achiever, sets after me and the Shen-Gong-Wu.

_Figures. _I think lightly as I remove my trench coat and heli-pack so they won't weigh me down while I swim. _I get to listen to Omi, but then again, he is better then Wuya and Jelly bean._

"Jack Spicer!" Omi exclaimed loudly as he approached. "You will surrender your search now, or face a most humiliating defeat!"

I smile a little, putting on my childish mask so as to avoid questioning. "Whatever cheese ball, I'm an evil boy genius, I do what I want." A hint of humor is thrown into my voice, seeing as how I don't really mean it.

The humor flew right over his head. "Very well, you have been warned."

He charges at me and I frown, pulling the most feminine scream I can muster from my lungs. A ghost of a smile on his face as the act made him feel as if he had won. That is, until I dove into the water and started swimming down to the bottom. Omi fell face first into the mud where I had been standing moments before, but the little guy recovers quickly and looks to see what I'm after. I don't look back anymore as I swim down into the depths, the clear water only slightly stinging my eyes as I forcefully hold them open to scan the lake's floor. My lungs start to burn and beg for air when a golden band catches my eye, it's only slightly hidden in the muck of the soggy ground. I grab it quickly and begin to swim back to the surface, only to be dragged back down by another, determined force.

**And that's all for this chapter. Hope you enjoy.**

**Criticism and reviews are greatly appreciated.**

**Thanks for reading and I hope to have the next chapter up soon.**


	3. Home

_**Thank you to everyone who's reviewed (several guest reviews but thank you for the compliments none the less.) Although, I never expected so many views for this story. But thank you all none the less.**_

_**Enough of my chit chat, onward to the story. (Since I'm sure you skimmed this anyway ^~^.)**_

**Disclaimer: I do not own Xiaolin Showdown or any of it's original characters (even though I would really like to.) However, any unheard of characters that appear (such as the siblings and the parents (somewhat) all belong to me. Thanks.**

**Chapter Three**

**Home.**

_No one's POV._

The four dragon's stand among the rubble of mechanical parts and corpses that litter the once clean clearing. Wuya and Hannibal have fled to safer grounds after having been defeated by the warriors, leaving behind the third member of their party. Omi looks at the surface of the water, looking for some kind of trace of Jack Spicer, while Clay stands by in case he is needed to carry the small boy. Kimiko looks nervously over the water, unsure if the boy will ever resurface, and Raimundo keeps his eyes on the edges of the lake, in case Jack were to come ashore in another place.

Omi sighs. "I am sick of waiting. The time to do something is now!"

"I think you mean 'it's time to take action', Omi." Kimiko tells him from over his shoulder.

"That to!" He exclaims before putting his hands out in front of him, palms out to face the water.

The lake's surface ripples as if touched and disturbed, the middle slowly coming up in a watery hill as the lake water is slowly brought up from it's stationary place in the ground. Omi looks up happily at his work, holding the entirety of the lake water in a bubble above the middle of the once filled hole. The lake's inhabitants swim, mostly undisturbed, in their now floating home, the lake's floor shines brightly in the sun. The corpses of long dead trees and sunken boats litter the floor, the soggy wood buried into the mud as if it where being sucked down by quicksand for years. Clay scans the lake floor for Jack while kimiko makes sure he isn't caught in the bubble of clear water, Raimundo hops down into the pit to get a look around for Jack and the Shen-Gong-Wu.

"Rai, partner, Jack's over there!" Clay shouts from his spot, pointing to just beyond the wreckage of a small boat.

"Thanks, Clay." Raimundo answers as he trudges through the thick accumulation of debris and mud.

The mixture comes halfway up Raimundo's calf, coating his pants, hands, arms and shoes in the slimy substance. It takes him only a few minutes to pull through the mud to the young teen's body, and a little bit of time to pull the teen free. Jack's lower half is completely submerged in the mud as it seems he had fallen back, even his forearms were submerged from trying to free himself. The teen is halfway conscious as he coughs up a lung full of water that had managed to get into him after he had been sucked down.

"Raimundo, your pace needs to be quickened! I cannot hold this up much longer!" Omi's voice had urgency within it, as he didn't want to drop all of the lake's water down onto the two friends.

"I'm trying Omi, but it's a lot harder then it looks to clear this mud away. It's got a sticky hold on the both of us." Not exactly what Omi wanted to hear from his friend, but he was stuck with the answer none the less.

Raimundo finally succeeds in freeing Jack and he rushes him to the edge of the hole, where Clay is waiting to help the two of them up. Jack gratefully takes Clay's open hand and the stocky cowboy helps the two teens out of the pit they were stuck in. Kimiko happily joins the group as Omi sets the water back into place before relaxing back on the ground. His face pale as sweat rolls down the young Monk's forehead from the effort of holding up all of the water for an extended period of time. His friends check Omi over and after they are reassured he is alright they begin to discuss what they should do about Jack and their failure to find the Shen-Gong-Wu.

_Jack's POV._

My lungs still burn from the long absence of air, and my limbs feel heavy from the extra weight of the mud. But I was glad that at least the Monk's didn't just leave me to die, a little happiness filled me as I looked up gratefully to them all. I take a quick look around and find that both Wuya and Hannibal have fled the scene, which I figured they would if I didn't return immediately from the bottom of the lake. My trench coat and heli-pack are still laying beside the water's edge, the only difference is someone has crushed the blades of my once working heli-pack.

I look back up at the four monks, all of which are having a discussion of their own. "Uh, guys..." I keep my voice slightly quiet, not really wanting to interrupt them too quickly. They all looked down at me. "Thanks for helping me...I uh...I'd be dead right now if it wasn't for you four."

Their expressions softened a bit and Omi came up beside my shoulder, patting it lightly. "It is of no issues my friend. For we were very glad to help. It is what we do." His signature smile is spread across his face, wide and showing all of his whitened teeth.

"Yeah, we couldn't just leave you to drown." Kimiko tells me with a smile.

Clay hoists me up by the collar of my shirt, not entirely meant as a jerk but it jars my injuries none the less. I flinch only a bit, hoping it will go unnoticed. "It's no problem, partner. Anythin' to help those that are in need of it."

Raimundo eyes me curiously, I can only guess that he noticed my flinch. "Is there something you'd like to tell us? As in, if you're hurt in some way?" His voice is calm and slow, knowing I was always injured.

"Me? No, of course not." I smiled a bit, hoping it would push us off subject. "I'm perfectly fine." I put my mud caked hands in my pocket, my left hand brushes over something smooth and slightly cold. I glance down and remember I had slipped the Shen-Gong-Wu into my pocket, just before the mud had started to drag me under. "Oh, hey I-" I look up again to notice they were starting to get on their oversized dragon, Dojo. "Hey, wait!" I run over to stop them, Dojo scowls at me slightly. "Here."

I hold out the Shen-Gong-Wu to the four, who only look surprised to see me handing it over. "What angle are you trying to play at, Jack?" Kimiko's sweet voice was filled with a bit of skepticism and a flare of anger that quickly subsides.

"I'm not playing at an angle. I don't know what Shen-Gong-Wu this is, and honestly, I didn't even care for it. Wuya and Hannibal forced me to come along to be their stupid retriever. So take it. I don't want it, much less want to give it to them." I toss it up and Omi catches it quickly.

"But, Jack, do you not work for the side of evil?" Omi's voice is filled with confusion.

"Well...technically yes but, I don't want to match up to their idea of being some kind of loyal lackey. So it's better to give it to you four then to keep something that I don't even know about." I walk off and pick up my trench coat, which I slip on happily. It's absence made me feel a bit cold from the air, being wet probably didn't help much either. I look over my Heli-pack sadly. "Um Xiaolin Monks?" Dojo sighs, having been stopped from taking off once again. "Could I ask for a ride home?"

There's a long silence and I sigh, I figured I shouldn't of asked but it couldn't hurt to try. "Never mind..." I tell them, a bit down hearted. "I'll just walk..."

I shift the broken pack in my arms and start walking in the direction of home, only to be stopped by someone holding the bottom of my trench coat. "We would be happy to give you a ride home." Omi's soft voice is barely heard, but the kindness in it is clearly heard.

"Thanks..." I smile a bit and walk back over to Dojo with Omi.

Dojo is frowning heavily and refusing to look at me. I take a step back, not wanting to anger the ancient dragon or do something that he doesn't want to do. He glances my way, and upon seeing my unwillingness to hop on when he is unhappy, his gaze softens and he nods a bit. Giving his permission to hop on his back with the other four. I smile a bit and get on, happy that I wouldn't have to walk home. My ribs and lungs are killing me, but it's not like I would share that information with these four, the last thing I need is for them to take me to the temple.

It takes Dojo less then two minutes to make it to my house, and he's about to land on the road in from when I pull hard on his right cheek to steer him away from there, much to his displeasure and the concerned gazes of the monks. "Sorry Dojo." I tell him. "But not there..." A little fear must have dripped from my voice because he accepted the apology quickly, a concerned look back at me from his left eye.

"Where to then...?" He looks around a bit, confused as to where to take me.

I point to the tree line at the back of the house. "Back there...it's a little roomier for you to land.." I offer with a slight hope that they'll all buy the excuse.

No one seemed to question it as we land and I jump down quickly. I wipe the mud off from where I was sitting. "Sorry about the mud, Dojo."

"That's ok? Kid, you sure you're fine? You're acting weird..." He watches me carefully as I nod.

"Oh yeah I feel great." I force a smile and a laugh. "Never better. Just um...didn't, want you to be uncomfortable."

Kimiko and Raimundo look at each other while Clay tips his hat to me. "Alright there, but let us know if you're hurtin' partner." I nod quickly to the four and walk away to a hidden door in the side of the hill where my house sits.

I slip inside and watch from a peep-hole as the others fly off, I sigh in relief. _**You almost blew it you idiot. Another second longer and you might not have been able to tell them you were fine. **_The little voice in my head nags at me from the back of my mind.

Everything in the room is dark and I flip the light switch nearest me. My breath hitched in my throat and my heart stopped as I stared at the one man I would have loved to never see again. "Welcome home, Jack."

_**Wow that was a long chapter, hadn't meant for it to go on this long. Also sorry for such a delay in the updating. But yeah, here is the third chapter and maybe I will get to continue onward with this story. I don't know.**_


	4. A world gone cold

_**Yeah, so this story is moving along quickly. Don't know when it will be completed but it should be some time soon. Also I should warn you all, this is where a bit of violence and fowl language happens. So if you do not want to read that then I suggest moving on.**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Xiaolin Showdown or any of it's original characters (even though I would really like to.) However, any unheard of characters that appear (such as the siblings and the parents (somewhat) all belong to me. Thanks.**_

**Chapter 4.**

**A world gone cold.**

Everything in the room is dark and I flip the light switch nearest me. My breath hitches in my throat and my heart stops as I stare at the one man I would have loved to never see again. "Welcome home, Jack." His cold voice sends chills down my spine and his hardened blue eyes seem to stare into my very core, watching my beating heart with hate. "You've kept me waiting for over an hour. You know that I don't have time to waste, _waiting _on your damned ass."

He stands up from the reclining chair that he was sitting in, he towers a good two or three feet over me and his strong build only adds on to it. I take a hurried, fearful step back, only to have my body connect with the door behind me. "W-well I was off with some f-friends is all. And we must've lo-"

His fist connects with the steel face of the door, making sure it's only a hair away from my head and earning a jump from me. "I don't want to listen to your excuses! I didn't ask for them now did I?" The question is rhetorical of course, but when I failed to answer his free hand reached up and grabbed my throat, hoisting me into the air. "I asked you a question, you fucking answer me." He pulls me away from the door only to slam my body back against it, making the metal dent under the pressure and all of my air to leave my lungs, leaving them screaming for the air to return again. A searing pain goes through my head, almost like an unbearable migraine that scatters my thoughts and leaves me frantic to compile an answer.

I take a shuddered breath as his hand tightens around my neck, slowly but surely cutting off my air supply. "No, you didn't ask for them." My voice is small compared to his booming one, but the silence in the room makes it seem louder. He releases me and watches as I crumple to the floor.

"That's better." A hint of amusement stains his voice as he walks away from me to the table where the beginnings of my new creation lays. He picks the metallic head up. "So what is this fascinating creature that you seem to be working on?"

I get up and stumble over to the table, swiping my goggles from the ground near my computer and putting them back on my head, their familiar feel helps ease some of the headache away. The head of the creature is fairly large with a long snout, almost reptilian by the looks of it but with a square head, much like that of a boxer or bull dog. Long, jagged teeth jut out from the upper and lower jaw as well as having a heavy set of horns that travel down it's non-existent neck before curving and coming back up to end under the red glass eyes. The plating is a dark black with several tiny white dots, making it look like stars placed too close together. However those are just sensors, those same sensors will be on every inch of it's body to give it the look of camouflage. The sensors can read the surroundings and place the exact image over the user, allowing the user to become camouflaged in it's surroundings without the assistance of the Shroud of Shadows.

He looks over at me, a flash of anger in his eyes from my delayed response. I flinch and take a step back before looking at the ground. "It's a new type of guardian I'm creating in hopes of impressing some of my friends...and enemies..." I'm answered with a laugh and the clink of metal as he sets the head down.

"You? Have friends? That's a bunch of garbage. You couldn't have friends if you created them by hand. You're pathetic Jack-bots should be an example of that. You aren't their friend. In fact, the only reason the Jack-bots stay around you is because you are their master. Nothing more then that." He gets dangerously close to me and I feel his hot breath next to one of my ears. "Nothing you ever do will get you friends, you will always be alone and that's exactly how it will always stay."

I don't know what exactly came over me, but I remember lashing out and striking my father in the side of the head with my wrench. Immediately after doing so I dropped the tool and if I could have gotten any paler I would be transparent. A steady stream of blood leaks down from his temple and his head is turned away from me, I take the moment to quickly retreat back to the door. Keeping my eyes on him to make sure he doesn't grab me from behind, I only wish I had turned my back on him. As he stands up straight he turns his head back around slowly to face me, his eyes are cold enough to rival medusa's stone stare. His own breathing heavy and, to me, he seemed to get bigger in size the more his anger grows.

"You...dare...strike me with your filthy tools..." His voice is a deathly growl as he stays rooted to the spot. I open my mouth to say something, anything to defend myself, only to be cut off as he continues. "You will wish that you had never been given the impulse to even pick up that tool when I'm done with you, you worthless-" He flips over my work table, sending all of my parts into different directions as well as knocking into the single light-bulb. Surprisingly it didn't break but only started to jerk back and forth from the force, sending different streams of light everywhere. "-fucking waste of space and time!" He kicks the nearest disc of metal at his feet and sends it in my direction.

I only had enough time to duck just as it lodges into the wall behind me and just as I was about to turn and run I feel his hand grab my arm and jerk me back to face him. The motion jars my throbbing ribs and his eyes only seem to glow with rage. "You made my precious blood spill out over my skin." He brings me ever closer, forcing me to stare him in the eyes. "Now I will make you bleed for every minute you've ever been alive."

My eyes widen and I start to plead but he only leans back and pulls me around in a wide circle. Letting go only when he has enough force in the swing, and sending me flying into the wall, as I connect with the hard concreate there's a blood chilling crack. I slowly slide back down, unable to focus my eye sight on the incoming blur as I feel a steady, warm trickle of blood start to roll down the back of my neck. He pulls me back up and in that swift motion he pulls me far enough off the ground that I don't even think I could hit it if I tried. A noise registers in my head, sounding mostly like a displeased growl. I open my eyes a little wider to try and focus on the blurry face in front of me.

Before I even have the chance to register his face again, he throws me up hard. Letting me connect with the ceiling in the same, harsh fashion as the wall. A searing pain goes up my right leg, my left arm and my right wrist. I start to fall, it is almost peaceful for a moment before I connect with the ground. Blackness starts to cloud my vision around the edges, and I feel a sharp pain in the back of my head as he lifts my head up by my hair.

I focused long enough to hear his clouded voice, almost as if he was trying to talk to me while I had earplugs in. "If you're alive when I come to visit in the morning, we will see if you're even worth bandaging up then." He releases my head and lets it hit the ground with a hard, dull thud.

I'm not sure what kept me awake after that, the blackness was slowly closing in on my vision as I laid there and bled on the cold concreate floor. I couldn't really move but when I tried I got an extra wave of pain to flow through my body, that told me I might live at least. As long as I didn't grow too numb there was a chance I could survive.

_Why should I want to? _I think bitterly.

_**Someone has to teach that old jerk a lesson...wouldn't you agree? **_The little voice in the back of my head has a point. Although, even with it's presence the headache only gets worse.

A few drops of blood splatter onto the floor from my nose._ I guess the impact broke something loose there too. Add it to the bill of other things he's done...could've been worse. _

I shudder a bit from the cold air, sending a new, refreshed wave of pain to roll through my body. I didn't even have the strength to flinch or call out. All I could do was lay and wait until morning, the darkness finally closed in and numbed my mind. Sending me into a world of cold, pained, blissful unconsciousness.

_**Ouch...a bit harsh for a father huh...well, this was chapter four.**_

_**Chapter five coming as soon as I can get it in.**_


	5. A new friend

_**Ok, so that violence in the last chapter was a bit extreme I'll admit. I'm sure plenty of you have read Fanfictions where Jack's parents are abusive or neglectful in some way. However my main course of action was just to have them completely ignore Jack, the only reason the father is abusive is...well...you'll find out in later chapters.**_

_**Also, I am so sorry for the delay of this chapter. I've just had a difficult, long week. I will try not to let it happen again. **_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Xiaolin Showdown or any of it's original characters (even though I would really like to.) However, any unheard of characters that appear (such as the siblings and the parents (somewhat) all belong to me. Thanks.**_

**Chapter Five.**

**A new friend.**

As I slip back into the world of what I believe to be consciousness, I notice that the pain I was feeling before is now gone. _I guess that means I'm dead? _I think to myself.

I go to get up and find that I can't. Everything feels weighted down and numb, I don't even think I can move my fingers and toes. So, I take my chances and slowly pry my heavy eyes open. I can't make out a thing in the room, everything is blurred together and not creating a complete image for me to look at. That is until a different object, one that's long and dark, appears in front of me. I shift my gaze up and start to try and blink the blurriness away so I can understand what or who I'm looking at. The figure is tall, and although it is sleek it's not as skinny as I am, I can faintly make out the muscles in it's arms that are straining the material of the hoodie they're wearing.

They bend down and reach for my head, it's not like I could fight them even if I wanted to so I lay still and hope they aren't an enemy. "He's roughed you up good today, huh Jack?" Their voice is relatively low but still quite strong. As far as I can tell, the gender is male and his skin is a lukewarm on my slowly chilling forehead. I kind of look at the dark hole that's working as his face, a question lurking in my eyes that he seems to pick up easily. "Don't worry. I'm not here to hurt you, not like I could do much else to you in the state you're in. Just relax so my magic can finish healing you."

I glance down to try and glimpse some part of me, only catching the top of my shoulder and the top half of my arm. Both of which are surrounded by a violet or lavender-like color aura, another thing I noticed is that my trench coat isn't on me like it was before I passed out. I look back up at the stranger, filing questions in my head to ask him later, and I take a good look at the man before me. His hoodie hides his whole upper body while his light blue pants cover his lower body, the shoes that had blocked my vision from earlier are actually black combat boots. His hands have on fingerless red gloves and his fingers are long, but their paleness reminds me of the off-white color of bones. I look up at him and notice that he seems to be looking down at my interviewing gaze.

"If you're trying to look for something that can tell you who I am, then it's best if you stop now while you're ahead." He sets two fingers against my throat and I feel a warm, silky feeling cover my voice box and the surrounding area of it. "Go ahead and start asking your questions, I need to know that you're awake while the healing process is still going."

I pick up the slight sound of urgency in his voice for me to stay awake, causing the first question to be simple. "Why do I need to stay awake?"

He moves his hand and sets it in the middle of my back, sending a warm, dull pain up my spine. "Because if you are asleep then I won't know if my magic hit's a wrong place and either paralyzes you forever or kills you. Next question." He doesn't sound so much as impatient as someone who's skilled at multi-tasking and knowing when someone has a lot of questions to go through.

"Who...exactly...are you?" I hesitate through part of my question, unsure if I really want to know who this newcomer is.

He pauses, slowly letting his gaze travel back to my face so his hidden eyes meet mine. "If you're so sure that you want to know, would you even be able to handle the news?" He let's his question sink in, but when he notices no change in my determined eyes he lets out a small sigh. "The name is Intoru. I am th-"

"The King of the Underworld..." There was no way I could hide my surprise, or the widening of my eyes when I heard his name. I've only heard myths of him, and even then he never seemed like he could be real. "But...why would you come here to help me? ….unless I'm actually dead?"

He chuckles a little. "Dear boy, if you were dead I wouldn't be using my magic to heal you. Now would I?" The question is followed by a hint of playfulness, since he already knows the answer. "I am helping you, Jack, because there is something incredibly important inside of you that you need to find before you are allowed to die."

There's something in his voice that sends red flags through my mind. "And this...'something' that's so important...what exactly is it?"

"That is what you have to find out for yourself. I've interfered enough just by making sure that you aren't killed by that imbecile of a father that you have." A small growl enters his voice as he talks about my dad. "And besides those two points, I cannot speak of your gifts until after you've at least practiced with them."

His with-holding of information from me is starting to become an annoyance, but you can't just force the King of the Dead to answer any questions he doesn't want to answer. "Ok...well...when I do find these 'gifts', what are you going to do about it?"

"Why, take you under my wing of course. With your gifts it will be easy to train you, plus with you by my side no one will be able to rival our power. Not even your idol, Chase Young."

I scoff a bit. "He's not my idol. At least, not anymore..."

"Oh? Well then it's my turn to ask you a question, why isn't he your idol anymore?"

"Because what's the point in having an Idol that would much rather kill you then at least acknowledge that you are alive, existing and trying to learn from the one they think is the best? Having an idol means that you have someone to look up to, someone who at least knows you're there...but Chase...he's such an over confident, cocky, 'I'm-too-good-for-you', immortal piece of annoying, grade-A asshole...he doesn't have to like me, but he could at least acknowledge the amount of loyalty I had for him." He is silent as he listens to my rant, and in the shadows of his hood I see a long, sharp toothed grin cross his face. A devilish smile that contains nothing but absolute destruction and cold, calm understanding of rage.

"Jack, we will get along just fine. Now then." He places his hand on my head and I feel a burst of energy, the feeling in my body slowly inching back to me. "You are healed, sadly though you will have to put up with your father for a bit longer. But, the good news is, he is gone to a meeting and will be gone for a few days after he checks up on you in an hour. I'm going to plant a little idea in your head that could not only benefit you, but may also help get your name around."

I sit up, my curiosity pricking at the back of my mind. "Oh?"

His smile seems to grow a little wider, the teeth are unnaturally sharp, and his eyes are shinning now, allowing for me to actually see their dark features. The pupils are slits, much like a poisonous snake, and the colors are a deep red that burn like hot flames. "The next time anyone from the Heylin side goes to mess with you, or even try to get you to be the decoy, allow that burning hate to fill your bones deep inside. You allowed for it to do so a little while ago when you hit your dad with that wrench, do it again and you'll see exactly what kind of little gifts you're hiding. Just be warned, allowing your anger to stay too long will allow it full control of your body and you won't be able to stop it for anyone." I nod a little and he helps me to stand. "Tell no one of this encounter, I'm trusting you with my secret, don't make me regret it. I would hate to have to slit that porcelain white throat of yours and keep your head on a stake at my door. Especially when you have so much power to give."

With that he slowly begins to sink through the ground. "Oh, and if you should ever need me," He looks up at me, his eyes suddenly serious and the burning a bit more intense. "Don't hesitate to call out my name. I will come to help you, you could even think my name and I would come. But only call it in life or death situations. So you better be in the danger of death when I answer the call, or there will be serious repercussions, understand?"

I nod and he sinks all the way into the ground, leaving a host less shadow on the ground, but even that disappears after a few moments. The blood that was undoubtedly puddled around me where I was laying is gone, not even leaving a stain on the concreate floor. However the imprint my body made in the wall and the cracks in the ceiling leave all of the footprints I need to know where I was taken earlier that evening. I check myself over, looking for any signs whatsoever of Intoru's visit or even the damage done at an earlier time. There's nothing new on me, no black marks, no scars not even a numb feeling of pain to be left for me to feel.

Only when I'm satisfied that I am mark free do I finally move around the lab, checking to see if anything is missing from my parts pile or around my computers. I notice my goggles on the ground, underneath the imprint that my thrown body had left in the wall, some of the cracks in the concreate are reaching down to them as if it could pick them up. It's hard not to chuckle at the thought of the wall trying to wear my goggles as I walk over and pick them up, placing them back on my head where they belong. I then look around to find my missing trench coat, only to see that it's strewn unceremoniously across the floor, mud still caked all over it and dried blood mixed into it's already staining fabric. That's when I remember that I do still have mud caked everywhere else on me from the Shen-Gong-Wu hunt yesterday morning.

_Of course I can't catch a break before things go from a bad morning to a bad day. Just another day in life for Jack Spicer, 'evil' boy genius. _I sigh a bit at my own thoughts before setting to work on getting rid of all of my now pent up and renewed energy.

Unnoticing that one of my spy cameras were sending an urgent message to my computer.

_**And slight cliffhanger for you guys.**_

_**Any ideas on what could be the urgent message?**_

_**You might have some wild ideas and I might disappoint you with why the message is so urgent but eh, you'll live.**_

_**I will try to update as soon as I can and I'm thankful that you all have stuck around so long so thanks for the support and comments. I'll see you all in the next chapter.**_

_**~Keo**_


	6. Finding out about Jack

_**Thanks for sticking around to read this story. I'm attempting to keep up with the updates and everything. Your compliments really boost my spirit so I'm glad that I'm pleasing you all for the most part. For those of you who don't like romance that much, I can relate but the reason there isn't any romance is because I am horrible when it comes to trying to write about relationships and heavy 'loving' feelings that accompany it. So sorry to those of you who don't like it.**_

_**Also, just so everyone knows, this is mostly a dull chapter. I might be able to leave a cliffhanger or something towards the end.**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Xiaolin Showdown or any of it's original characters (even though I would really like to.) However, any unheard of characters that appear (such as the siblings and the parents (somewhat) all belong to me. Thanks.**_

_**Chapter Six.**_

_**Finding out about Jack.**_

It took me less then thirty minutes to clean up the scattered and discarded parts that my dad had managed to throw among the floor, wash my dirtied clothes and take a shower myself. Even after doing all of that I still have energy left to spare, the king's magic is a better boost then any energy drink or coffee. As I finished setting the last few pieces of metal on my workbench, which had taken a bit of shoving to get back into place, I finally noticed the urgent message that my spy-bots were sending me. Only, when I sat down to try and assess the problem I learned that there is big trouble heading my way and that right now I am too late to stop it. My sister has finally found the spy-bot, now she has it trapped to what looks like fly paper and is destroying it's firewalls to establish a connection with my computer. Even if I wanted to stop her there is now way I could place a firewall in time before she destroys this last one, and in a sense I don't even think I would stop her.

I watched as she barreled through the last few lines of the encoding in the firewall, a slight smile on my face as she had a relatively difficult time doing so, even with whatever rhythm she had managed to gain while taking out the other seven, my firewalls still gave her a hard time. My computer beeped once when it acknowledged her firm connection and she sat stunned for a minute when no other line of firewall showed up. She regains her composure quickly as she swipes a strand of her vivid red hair behind her ear, the rest of it is tied back in a high ponytail while the hairband struggles to keep the wild, thick curls in place.

"Hello?" Her voice is a bit firm but still a hint of scared can be heard none the less. I watch her green eyes flicker back and forth as she searches her undoubtedly black screen for a picture of the person on the other end. "Hey bonehead, answer me." Irritation is now infused inside her firm voice. "I've taken down your firewalls the least you could do is give me a short reply. I'd also like answers to why this little robot here was spying on me."

A ghost of a smile crosses my face as my pointer finger hovers over the button I need to press to answer. The only thing stopping me is the worry of our dad walking through either of our doors before I can shut off connection. I sigh and allow for the connection to be met, no sooner does my face appear does her expression change drastically. "Well?" I keep my voice slightly low, but mischievous as well. "I'm here because you rang."

Once she has finally looked me over enough to notice the similarities she relaxes in her chair, but her eyes dart behind me to get a good look at the room I'm in. She picks up the small yellow square that holds my even smaller spy-bot, a wire stuck in it's head that is undoubtedly connected to her computer. "Why are you spying on me?" The anger hidden behind her words doesn't surprise me, I keep my calm face and a slight grin.

"So that's the first question you ask your look alike?" My playfulness must annoy her as she scowls at me. "Don't go getting all angry, sheesh. Just a question, you act like a stabbed your finger or something. But due to how you've found my little bot, how did you know the purpose of it was for spying?"

It is her turn to smile, a confident smile that makes her eyes shine. "Because why else would there be a little robot in a girl's room that she didn't even know about." Her question must have been meant to make me feel stupid, because she waited for me to change my calm composure into that of one of self scolding. But when I didn't change she raised a different question. "Is there one in my bathroom too?"

I shake my head. "Nope. That is a place of privacy beyond more then just a bedroom. I wouldn't put a spy-bot in anyone's bathroom. Plus, I'm not so much spying as I'm trying to keep as close to family as I can without upsetting the 'warden'."

She tilts her head a bit. "Warden? So you're in jail?" I sigh at the question and after a few minutes her face scrunches up, there's no doubt that she's mentally scolding herself. "Of course not...wait...you said family. How are we family? I don't even know who you are."

"Oh come on, Jenifer. I know you noticed how we looked slightly alike. However, your confusion is understandable. The name's Jack, or the full one is Jack Spicer. " I saw her slightly recoil at the same last name. "Whether you want to believe it or not, I am related to you and the other three. Well, to you I'm a bit more then just closely related considering I'm your twin." She recoils a bit further from that information. "You cannot tell our dad about you talking to me though. If he were to find out he would kill me."

She remains silent for a few moments. "You can't be my twin, if you were then you'd be up here living with us not...wherever it is that you are right now. Besides, why would he kill you just because you talked to your sister, IF I even am related to you?"

I sit back, allowing my grin to fade as I fold my hands up in my lap. "You just put a piece of the puzzle right in your hands. I am actually living under all of you, in the basement, because that's were mom and dad put me after they came home. They left me down here with a nanny to take care of me so that they can turn you into another piece in their 'perfect family collection'. Haven't you ever noticed how hard they try to keep you in the tightest possible hold they can have? How they needed to know everywhere you went, everything you did and everyone you ever hung out with?" I watched the slow realization cross her face at where this was going. "They monitored everything you did growing up because they wanted to make sure you wouldn't do anything they deem as an embarrassment. And, as far as I can tell, they've done it to everyone in the family."

"But how do you know all of this? If you really are my twin you should only be 14 years old...you couldn't of been around long enough to know about any of the things they supposedly did." She smiles, thinking that she's caught me in a lie. "So how will you explain that to me?"

My straight face never leaves as I wait for her to finish a small moment of gloat. "I figured you would ask such a question. Now if you will just be quiet long enough for me to show you a few things maybe I can answer that for you."

Her expression changes to a skeptical one as I share my screen with her, the lack of a back ground on my computer must've bored her as she sat back. I open up a small connector in my computer and enter the password when the box asks for it, she sits up as she notices the pink, purple and yellow floral design that used to me our mother's computer. Jenifer has used our mom's computer countless times so seeing the background again in someone else's computer was a shock. Inwardly I smile as she watches me weave through the maze of files that our mom had set up to attempt to prevent hackers from getting into her more private files. However, I am too used to the system to be dazzled by the maze.

"So, how exactly is going through my mom's personal items going to get me to believe you?"

I open up the last file to show hundreds of short video clips. "Because I have to go through that maze to get to the actual file that has what I need. She had to make sure that under no circumstances would anyone who uses her computer be able to find these videos. These are just something you should watch."

I open up one with our two eldest brothers in it, allowing for the video to take up my screen and begin playing through. It shows the two of them at around the age of six or seven, both of them in a dark gray and blue uniform for the boarding school they were signed up in. While the video is short it gets the point across that everything they did was captured on video when they weren't at home, anything from eating in the cafeteria to going to the bathroom is recorded. Once it stops playing the next video pulls up, this one about Jenifer going to a party that she wasn't supposed to go to. I glance at her screen, seeing the understanding cross her face, I stop the video and close out.

"So that's how they knew about that...but how did you know about these videos?" She's absentmindedly staring at the corner of her screen.

"It's easy to know that parents like these would want to make sure they know everything about their children so that they can make sure to stop anything that will threaten their hard earned record. They'll do anything to keep it as air tight and unbelievable clean, that includes paying whatever they need to, to keep mouths shut and pictures from making it to the press. Heck, even includes putting their own child in the basement to keep anyone from seeing him."

She finally looks back at me, and whether or not she truly accepts that I am related to her is beyond me, but her expression softens. "Well, is it normal to feel at a loss for anything to say here?"

"Well of course. You only just now found out you have a twin living in your basement, anyone would be at a loss for words." I smile a bit and she mirrors me before frowning again.

"Can I tell Lacy, Tyler and Logan about you at least? I'm sure they'd like to know about you..."

I start to object until that longing feeling hits the pit of my stomach. Eventually I nod. "Sure, but they have to swear not to tell our dad about this...or else I'll be dead before they can even try to talk to me."

She nods quickly before looking at her door. "Oh, I've got to go. Dad's calling us down to say goodbye before he leaves." I give her a warning glance. "Don't worry, your secret is safe with me." She smiles gently before shutting off her connection. A few moments later the screen comes back as she reactivates my spy-bot and places it back in the corner of her room where I had it before she leaves her room.

_**You'd better hope she doesn't tell anyone or we're as good as dead. **_That annoying voice at the back of my head finally speaks up, it's probably been talking I've just chose to ignore it. _**And you better be turning that computer off before he arrives. The last thing he needs is to know our little secret spying screens.**_

I roll my eyes and turn the computer off, that little voice always knows how to make things sound worse then what they really are. As I turn my chair around my heart stops and I jump back. The swivel chair, unprepared to take all of my weight to lean back, flips over and spills me into the floor. Leaving the large tiger that was once in my face to loom over me, cornering me against my computer desk. I rub the back of my head as a familiar dark chuckle sounds across the room.

"Spicer, you never fail to amuse me with your clumsy, arrogant ways. If you were a better warrior then you would have known that my tiger was standing there." Inwardly I groan at the dark voice that belongs to my once favorite idol. He comes out of the shadows where he was standing moments before.

_I find it amusing how you can be such an ass. _I smile a bit at my thoughts, things I can't say to him before I know that I can get away without much harm.

He approaches me and stands beside his tiger. "I felt a strong presence earlier, Spicer, it was located here with you." Just like him to get straight to the point of his visit. "I would like answers as to what you could possibly have that could create such a shift in the atmosphere."

"I'm surprised you can feel anything past your own self proclaimed, over-powered atmosphere." Sometimes, I really wish I could keep my mouth closed.


	7. Gaining Ground

**I just want to say thanks for your reviews. The spirit boost gives me something to look forward to when continuing this FanFiction. Plus, it helps give me a bit of confidence that I am at least writing well enough to be legible and fun to read. Anyway, enjoy this next chapter! ^~^**

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Xiaolin Showdown or any of it's original characters (even though I would really like to.) However, any unheard of characters that appear (such as the siblings and the parents (somewhat) all belong to me. Thanks.**_

_**Chapter Seven.**_

_**Gaining Ground.**_

Chase stops, his smile fading into a scowl as a deep growl sounds from his throat. "I don't think I heard you correctly Spicer, what was that you just said?" I stay silent, keeping a level headed stare to his golden eyes. He comes forward and grabs the collar of my shirt, hoisting me up so that the toes of my boots barely touch the ground. I close my hands into light fists, unsure as to why I'm doing it, and this tingling sensation crawls under my skin. It's almost like energy but a little too heavy and persistent to be a small boost of adrenaline. "You do not have the right to talk to me that way, worm."

I pry his hands off of my shirt, catching him by surprise with my sudden act that doesn't include groveling at his feet. Speaking of which, now that I stand on my own our height difference is a little more noticeable. The tingling becomes a little more noticeable and I push it down, something telling me that I shouldn't allow whatever it is to control my actions. "I have the right to speak to you in any way I choose to." I keep my voice steady, hoping it doesn't quiver as bad as my shaking hands. "You do not get to treat people like trash just because you think you're better then everyone else." His surprised expression speaks volumes about my attitude change. "You may be some kind of lord of darkness, but every lord is only as good as his ruling technique and quite frankly, your technique sucks. Being all high and mighty doesn't mean that you get to have some kind of excuse to make people feel bad about themselves."

He eyes me as I finish my small scolding, if you can even call it that, looking for some kind of idea as to why I would stop worshiping him the way I used to. When he doesn't find one he settles his gaze back up to mine, his eyes flickering with anger. "You have a lot of gall to talk to me the way you just did, insect." I watch his hands twitch every now and then, expecting them to reach up and possibly snap my neck. Every time they twitch the tingling becomes insistent and ready to meet his challenge a little more head on then what I'm ready for. "However," I flick my gaze back up to his. "that will not be approached as of right now. So consider yourself lucky that I still have more pressing matters to attend to before I teach you a lesson in respect." A smile crosses my face, being able to insult him is one thing, but getting away with it for even a few minutes is one of accomplishment. The tingling dies back down.

I look over at the basement door, which is being opened by my prying father, and Chase slips into the shadows with his tiger. My dad walks in and looks around on the floor, expecting me to still be lying there either dead or in serious pain. When he finds no sign of me ever being there he starts to look around the basement, a slightly frantic look to his fast movements, until his eyes land on me still standing beside my computer desk. "How are you up and walking?" He looks me over. "Better yet, where are your bruises, cuts and broken bones?"

"Healed...I'm a fast healer..." Chase scoffs a bit from his hiding place in the shadows, undoubtedly seeing right through my lie.

My dad approaches me, stopping only when he's within arms reach. "That's not possible, no one can heal such a serious beating." His hand lashes out and grabs a handful of my hair, turning my head from side to side as he looks for the place of impact that had caused bleeding from the first throw. The tingling becomes a throbbing warmth, and something in me wants to reach out and break his hand, making it a little hard to push back down as I force my arms to stay by my side. "Are you hiding some sort of machine or concoction you've created that can heal?" He releases my head and I rub the sore spot he's created. The warmth doesn't recede, and as he stares down at me I have to do everything to force the warmth into submission before he notices, only succeeding in turning it back into a light tingling.

"N-." I stop, catching myself early before I have to come up with a quicker explanation. Still not wanting to share Intoru's secret until he allows for it. "Yes!" The sudden tone change makes him tense up and that tingling rises back into the sudden warmth, which turns into a searing hotness that feels like it's making my blood boil. "Yes, I did...it's a serum that I was testing." I push a smile across my face to look slightly excited while I force the hot feeling back into submission. "It works, haha..." I chuckle a little nervously, relaxing when it's submitted into a mildly annoying throb.

He looks me up and down. "Then where is it?"

I bite my tongue a bit. "I had to use it to heal myself...I don't have anymo-" He puts his hand out to stop me, and I have to stop myself from lashing out to meet his hand with a crushing grip. This change starts to worry me a bit but I do not let it show on the outside.

"Then _make _more. Something that can heal anything like what you had will sell quickly." His eyes flash with greed. "I expect to have one of those serums to take when I get back in a few weeks. If I do not," the greed is replaced with a bit of danger, and the throb flares up as if it's ready to meet that challenging look with an intense action. "then we will just have to redo the acts of punishment from last night." The throb goes back to it's hot feeling, but it reaches deep as if it's pulling me to tempt him into trying to hurt me again. But I force it to release me as he turns away from me.

With that he leaves, slamming the door closed as he exits the basement, and I let out a pent up sigh of relief. "You can sure come up with lies quickly." I look over to the side a bit as Chase emerges from his hiding place, and I battle the warmth back down to it's annoying throb. "But you cannot come up with one that I can't see through." He approaches me again, standing off to the side and igniting the throb again. "A serum cannot put off such strong magical attributes. So who was really here to heal you?"

"Wuya." I say her name before I even think about what I'm doing, focusing more on controlling this new feeling that refuses to leave. "Since Jellybean gave her back more of her powers she decided to come here, most likely to kill me. But when she saw that I was almost dead and that she couldn't do anything to me she healed me because she wanted to be the one who tortures and beats me to death..." The lie spills out quickly and it leaves Chase to just wait for me to finish.

"You expect me to believe that?" He does not like being lied to, that much is evident by his slowly angering tone, I groan inwardly as the throb attempts to retake it's burning feeling. When I only nod there's a moment of silence before him. "Alright." His tone is calmed back to normal and I look up at him, hoping the bit of surprise is hidden. Even the throb seems to stop at Chase's sudden submission to my lie. "I suppose that I can believe that Wuya would want to kill you herself." I search his face, nothing shows that he truly believes me, he's probably only believing it so he can leave, which is fine by me. "I now need to go have a chat with Hannibal and Wuya." He snaps his fingers and his tiger appears by his side in seconds, both of them disappearing in a cloud of smoke as Chase teleports them to another place.

I heave a heavy sigh, glad that both of the impending disasters are finally gone and I'm alone once again. Now that their both gone the throb recedes back to it's tingle which soon disappears itself and I walk to the makeshift living room that is created around the mini-fridge. I plop myself down on the stiff, sinking couch and lay back, I'm too tall to fit completely on the small couch, leaving the back of my shins to rest on the armrest and my feet to hang in the open air. As I get somewhat comfortable I silently thank whoever is watching over me that Chase has more self control then my father, or else I would more then likely be dead right now. But, I know the only reason he's keeping me alive is so that the 'disturbance' will come back and he can find out who it is causing it. I'm also glad that they're gone so that I don't have to battle whatever it was that was trying to pull itself up and out of the deepest places in both my body and soul.

As I let my thoughts take control, I let myself slip into a light sleep.

**In the underworld.**

_**No one's POV.**_

Sitting on a throne of skulls is a man with jet black hair, the bangs are that of fire being mainly red with the tips being yellow and only slight streaks of orange showing. His eyes are an ember color, the pupils merely slits filled with excitement as he watches a young teen battle with his inner powers. He wears a long black cloak that is tattered and frayed at the bottom, his boots are as black as the darkest shadows and his skin is the palest of whites. He wears a dark purple button up shirt with a golden collar and sleeves as well as buttons, a venomous colored green skull covers the middle of the shirt. His pants are a dark blue, much like a navy color, with black flames that go from the bottom of the leg to the knee and have a crimson trim to it. His head rests lazily on his fist and the arm is rested comfortably on the arm of his throne, the left side of his face is covered with an unknown skull, it's long faced with two sharp fangs and a long horn that juts upwards towards the ceiling. A trail of jagged cracks reaches up from the eye to the horn and down to the two lone fangs that settle as the mouth, the other half of the skull is no where to be found.

The candles that float and hang around the room flicker every time the boy's power flares up, and the man smiles as he watches the boy battle them back down. "You won't be able to hold those powers down forever, Jack. Sooner or later you will have to let them out." His voice is low and can easily travel across any amount of land to any destination it has to go. His smile is menacing as it shows a full mouth of needle tipped teeth and a forked tongue. "And I will be watching as it consumes you, whether you want it to or not."

He chuckles as the boy, known as Jack, relaxes back on a feeble couch. The once flaring power now resting idly as it waits for another opportunity to flare back up. "The last of his kind and already his potential is growing past my expectations." The man licks his lips in a greedy hunger. "It will be a very pleasurable evening when I get to bring you here to put under my control, all I need is for you to just burst out a little. Once you have an outburst, no one can stop me from taking you."

A small human-like creature cautiously approaches the skull throne, eyeing a spot behind the towering chair for something hidden among the dark shadows. "S-sire?" The youngling speaks out in a soft, shaky tone.

The man looks down at the creature, taking in it's red and black skin with a mildly annoyed gaze. "What is it now, Teren?"

The young demon swallows a lump that was forming in his throat. "The room is ready and awaiting your approval..." He lets his voice trail as the man stands, the demon shrinking and his small body shaking violently.

"Very well..." The king reaches behind his throne and draws out his weapon of choice. A double bladed scythe with a pattern of long femur bones and broken skulls that have been melded together to form the long hilt of the scythe. the blades are serrated and the silver flashes dangerously in the low candle light, a dark green swirl-like pattern flowing down the long blades. At the top is what looks like a spear tip, good for jabbing instead of swiping. "Lead the way."

The demon nods feverishly and begins to walk back down the hall, intent on keeping a good distance away from the lord and his blade. The man only smiles at the fear that radiates off of the servant and waves his hand to allow the small flame that held the image of the boy to disappear. Many ideas flowing through the mans head as he seems to hover down the hall, and a plan that's already been set into motion.


	8. A dream's meaning

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Xiaolin Showdown or any of it's original characters (even though I would really like to.) However, any unheard of characters that appear (such as the siblings and the parents (somewhat) all belong to me. Thanks.**_

_**Chapter eight.**_

_**A dream's meaning**_

I shiver slightly at the cold air surrounding me as I walk through the empty black landscape that's working as my dreamscape. The only light comes from above me and ends just out of arms reach, leaving the rest of the landscape to be in complete darkness, and the light doesn't even seem to have a source since it moves with me instead of staying in one place. I wander blindly, not being able to look past the light since my eyes won't adjust to the darkness thanks to it. A light hiss sounds from the darkness, seeming to come from multiple directions as if I'm surrounded by whatever being or thing is making the noise.

_"Jack, walk forward." _I turn in the direction of who or what is speaking, not seeing anything that could help me decipher if there is someone there, and begin to take slow steps backwards away from it. _"Faster." _The disembodied voice urges me, but I keep my slow pace, unsure if I want to meet whatever is in this direction. _"FASTER!" _This time it orders in a loud tone that seems to shake my dreamscape and me.

As soon as the order has finished shaking the ground, the inky darkness reaches out towards me almost like hands with sharp fingers and each has it's own symbols burning red on it's palm. One of the lower ones manages to snatch my shin and I feel a searing pain shoot up my leg, and a distinct smell of burning fabric and skin. I cry out and jerk my leg away from it, the hand retracts into the darkness obviously satisfied with it's job leaving me to look at the damage done to my skin. A pattern of dark circles and thorns reach down and disappears under my boot while the top coils up my leg and stops at my knee. The skin around the marking is red and irritated while also leaving the dull burning sensation to bother my lower leg.

The other hands try to take advantage of my distraction and lunge for my arms and torso while the light seems to stretch a bit father to give me room to get away in time. As if anything is as simple as backing away to be free, the shadows advance as well leaving my only open option to run from them or be engulfed in their burning darkness. I turn and run from the advancing shadow, the light expanding as if it's following me, putting enough distance between me and the shadows to get a head start. But I soon find out that it's not the light that's following me, it's only marking the path I have to take, so I have to follow it. The first time it turned when I wasn't expecting it, so I ran into the outstretched palms of the wall and the other hands advanced, closing the distance. I turned to get away only to be pinned back against the cold surface.

As I struggle against the grips of the shadows I can feel the intense burning when they grab ahold of any part of my body, the first intense pain being around my left wrist where one of the shadows was holding me in place. The burn travels up my arm while the original one that had been on my leg continues it's travel upwards, stopping only when it's halfway up my thigh while the one on my arm only stops when it comes around behind my shoulder and then coming forward to end on my chest. The wall behind my head shifts and long finger-like tendrils snake across my face until they engulf my head and neck, only when I can't see does the burning start. I cry-out again only to find that loosing air will not help me since I apparently cannot draw any in once it's gone. The wall only releases my head when I've almost suffocated, and the intense burning on my face draws tears to my eyes, but I hold them back because their warmth will only make the burning feel worse.

I look around and find that the light hallway that I was following has rounded out in the back where I'm currently laying, the shadow hands are gone now that their job is done._ "Move forward."_ The voice, first time I've heard it since the shadows started their chase, is a little calmer now but still has a sense of urgency.

It takes a little while for me to finally stand and even when I do I almost collapse from the pain that excels from my back, the pain is really everywhere but it's the worst on my back and around my shoulders. I take a deep breath and trek forward, moving through the already carved pathway that the light has given me while the rounded end follows close behind to keep me from turning back. I try to focus on something other then the feeling of being on fire, like keeping my eyes clear from the blurriness that threatens to take over. After what feels like an eternity I end up in a widened out circular room with a large doorway that takes up all of the space in front of me. The wood is marked with several symbols that I don't recognize and the metal that is mixed in houses holes that serve as a home for several gems, they're mostly scattered around the doorframe with the middle housing a small hole. A small pedestal sits in the middle of the room, on top sits a jade green bowl with red symbols to match the doorway.

The door shakes a bit and a booming voice exerts itself from the thick wood and metal combination. **"So you've finally approached me, youngling." **A softer sound, one that's more like chuckling comes from behind it. **"I almost believed that you would never be able to prove yourself worthy enough to face me." **I tilt my head, ignoring the pain that my neck sends through my body, scolding me for the action. **"Have you brought the key that is needed to open my door to you?" **

Assuming it's my turn to speak, I approach the pedestal as if I might find the answer to his question, or perhaps even a key if I'm lucky. "And what...exactly...is the key that opens your door?" I ask in a soft hesitant voice when I find neither instructions nor a key.

I look up at the towering door in front of me, half expecting to see it grow eyes and a mouth, but instead the shadows that had once backed off to give me space now advance slowly as he delays his answer. The shadows stop when there is no where to go and there's only enough space behind me to take a few steps back, I look around at my options before chancing a look at the door. **"I need blood, boy." **Before I even have time to come up with an answer the shadows completely enclose me, forcing me onto my still burning back and surrounding me in that familiar warmth I had fought to keep tamed. As I look up at the light that's slowly fading I can see what looks like someone's smile and I hear a dark chuckle, heavier then the one that had resonated from the door, just before the shadows completely engulf me into an eternity of darkness.

_**Coming out of dreamscape.**_

_Jack... _A high pitched voice slowly inches it's way through the shadows, one that feels slightly familiar but I can't place it.

_Jack... _I know that one too, it's heavier then the first but I know it. I recognize it. But why are they here, why in this inky darkness? Are they the last thing I'm going to hear?

_Get up. _One of the shadows above commands in a heavy tone and I can feel the pressure on my arms, trying to drag me somewhere else. I lash out and feel the solidity of the thing that I hit, now that I've found something to grab I latch onto it. It wanted me to get up so I am.

Whatever shadow I've grabbed seems to screech and it stops only when I pull it down and throw it away from me, after I do that everything else seems to meld together. I don't remember standing up, or even walking anywhere but when my eyesight comes back I realize I'm awake and standing almost completely across the room from the couch where I had dozed off at. Laying on the floor behind the couch is Hannibal bean who is nearly two feet taller then me after apparently having using his moby-morpher. Wuya is laying on the broken remains of what was the small oak coffee table but is now just splinters scattered on the floor. The only one standing is Chase and he's sporting a darkening bruise on the right side of his face as well as around his neck. His armor even has dents in it, but what's weird is he doesn't even look angry. The emotion on his face is one I never thought I'd see on the Lord of darkness, one of fear, he doesn't even advance to try and kill me. Course, maybe I didn't give it to him, maybe I'm standing in front of something bigger that did. But when I turn around that hope disappears when I see nothing but the empty basement I've grown to get used to seeing every day.

"Spicer..." I flinch a little at Chase's voice, expecting a blow to the head or some other form of punishment, and I turn back to him slowly, unsure if I want to face him now. "Do you remember anything you just did here?" I relax when I see he is he calm and not trying to make any move to approach me, I look around at the mess I made of the two heylin siders and then back at Chase's darkened bruise, racking my brain for any memory of it all. But it all comes up blank so I just shake my head. He looks me over carefully, anything that he was set on saying or doing earlier is now gone and replaced with wonder. "Then I'll be going..." With that he teleports away, leaving a thin cloud of smoke where he once stood.

Wuya is the first to stand, brushing off the dust and splinters that had covered her when she landed, then reaching behind her and pulling out a long piece of wood that had embedded itself in the back of her thigh. "Jack, in all the time that I've been stuck here with you I have never seen you fight like that." I stare at Wuya, a little surprised to hear what sounds like a small compliment in her tone. "Why have you been hiding it?" I expected a sarcastic comment to follow the praise or one of her about to kill me, but instead it was an honest question and for once she stayed a good distance away from me as she helped Hannibal.

"Boy, if you'd fight like that more often you wouldn't loose Shen-Gong-Wu all the time." Hannibal dusts himself off, letting me see the bruises forming along his right vine, where his wrist should be, and sides. "You have got to start acting like that more often." When I just stare at him blankly his smile turns into a frown. "Never mind. Come on, Wuya, we have a Wu to go find. We've wasted enough time here."

Wuya, who is looking at me with slight interest and slightly scaring me with that hungry look for power I've seen one too many times. snaps back to attention when Hannibal addresses her. Any argument she might've given vanishes after one serious look from Hannibal. "Of course, I don't want to stay here any longer then I have to." Her tone is back to normal but the lie is easily seen through by her exasperated look. With that they both leave my basement.

Once my door shuts I look around for any of my jack-bots pieces, but find none anywhere. Which is odd for a visit from the three heylin siders. I go over to my computer and pull up my security camera footage, knowing my memory might not be able to tell me what happened but my security cameras can. I open up todays file, which will still play live feed even if I rewind it a little bit. So I take it back to about ten minutes ago.

In the video the basement is empty except for my small body laying on the even smaller couch, every now and then my body will twitch or attempt to turn around. At the nine and a half minute mark is when Chase appears in his normal teleporting fashion with Wuya and Hannibal by his side, and this is when I turn the volume up a bit so I can hear them clearly. Chase approaches the couch but stays a distinct distance away, as if I still annoy him even as I sleep, Hannibal comes up and stands behind the couch where my head is, after having used his moby-morpher to grow bigger. Wuya goes around and stands in front of my sleeping form.

"Jack." She places her hands on her hips and looks annoyed when I don't wake up. "Jack?" She tilts her head a little.

"Jack, my boy, wake up." This time it's Hannibal who speaks and he leans against the couch as Wuya comes around to join him, as she passes Chase she smiles a bit.

"Get up." She orders my sleeping form, just before setting her hand one my arm in an attempt to pull me off the couch.

Soon after her hand is around my arm I open my eyes, they are solid red. There's no pupil inside them and no whites around the corners, just a solid red mass where my eyes are, the corners seem to spark like red electricity. My free hand comes up and grabs Wuya's throat before pulling her over the couch in a quick motion, the only thing she's able to do is scream before her back connects with the coffee table, busting it into splinters. I had rolled over with her to stand on my feet and Hannibal approaches me in a calm manner.

"Jack, it's alright. It's only us." His right vine reaches out to be placed gently on my shoulder but as soon as it's within arms reach it is grabbed roughly and Hannibal is pulled forward with an unnecessary amount of force. Once he's pulled forward and unable to stop his motion my right leg delivers a hard kick to Hannibal's side, and since he didn't go down my left leg came around to mimic the motion and send him flying into the back of the couch.

Chase, who thought he could deliver a calm, swift hit to the pressure point on my neck was soon met with a blocking hand and a heel to the side of his knee, both of which he never saw coming. Though he didn't go down he did go for another attempt at restraining me, only to stop in surprise as black marking appear on my face and his feet to be engulfed in darkness, rooting him to the spot. I look at the time of the recording, this was about five minutes ago and already the worry about not remembering any of this was starting to get to me. Chase, who is slightly curious as the what's holding him in place, was unable to stop or dodge most of the attacks this other side of me dealt. He blocked the severe ones but could not stop the ones that made the dents in his armor, and was unable to see or block the heel that connected with his face. As the bruise started to form I backed away to the spot where I regained control, the darkness that had engulfed his feet crawls up Chase's legs and body to his neck where it stopped. The rest of the darkness came up and formed a ring around his neck and it started to tighten, for once I saw Chase panic as he could not get it off and his air was slowly being constricted from him.

All at once the darkness disappeared, leaving the light bruise on his neck, and the symbols that had been on my face vanished as well. The electricity dissipated and my eyes slowly became normal as I woke up, leaving the now truly awake me to stand there and stare at the mess that had just taken place. I stopped watching after that and closed down all of the security footage, I leaned back in my chair and tried to go over what I had just watched, but nothing made sense. Sure the shadows I thought were talking to me now made sense, but everything else didn't. I've never been able to fight anyone, let alone Chase, and those markings didn't make any sense either. The only thing I can put together is I remember seeing those markings on the door in my dreams, but whatever was behind it is locked away and shouldn't be able to make me do any thing...should it?


End file.
